Means for carrying bottles

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a means for carrying a bottle ( 100 ). According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a carrying means ( 100 ) for a bottle ( 350 ) having a body portion ( 110 ), a neck portion and a tapered portion extending therebetween, said carrying means including; a first bottle retention loop ( 115 ) adapted to receive the body of said bottle therein; a carry handle ( 125 ) connected to said first bottle retention loop ( 115 ); a second bottle retention loop ( 130 ), adapted to receive the neck of said bottle ( 300 ), therein, and a body portion ( 110 ) connecting said first and second loops together, wherein, in use the body of said bottle ( 300 ) is retained in said first loop ( 115 ), and the neck of said bottle is retained in said second loop ( 130 ), such that when said carrying means is suspended by said carry handle ( 125 ) said bottle ( 300 ) is substantially supported by said second loop ( 130 ) against the tapered portion of the bottle ( 300 ).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a means for carrying a bottle.In particular, the present invention relates to means for crying abottle from at the point of sale in a convenient and simple manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] When goods are purchased from shops and other retail outlets itis common that the sales person or cashier will provide a bag or othertype of packaging to the customer in order to assist the customer incarrying the goods from the shop.

[0003] For example bottle shops and liquor stores will typically placebottles of wine, spirits or beer purchased by a customer in a brownpaper at the point of sale. Typically brown paper bags are not providedwith handles and do not provide any significant protective advantage, orhandling advantage over carrying the bottle alone. Additionally theeffectiveness of any advertising on a paper bag is also minimal.

[0004] In use, a paper bag is typically twisted around the neck of thebottle in the act of grasping the bottle around the neck in order tocarry the bottle. Thus any advertising slogans or pictures printed onthe paper bag are creased or obscured from view while the bottle isbeing carried.

[0005] In the current climate of environmental awareness it is alsodesirable that packaging and carrying means are provided which use lessmaterial in their construction.

[0006] Therefore, clearly it is desirable to provide a means forpackaging bottles at the point of sale which address at least one of theabove drawbacks of current methods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] According to a first aspect of the present invention there isprovided a carrying means for a bottle of the type having a bodyportion, a neck portion and a tapered portion extending therebetween,said carrying means including;

[0008] a first bottle retention loop adapted to receive the body of saidbottle therein;

[0009] a carry handle connected to said first bottle retention loop;

[0010] a second bottle retention loop adapted to receive the neck ofsaid bottle therein, and

[0011] a body portion connecting said first and second loops together,wherein, in use the body of said bottle is retained in said first loop,and the neck of said bottle is retained in said second loop, such thatwhen said carrying means is suspended by said carry handle, said bottleis substantially supported by said second loop against the taperedportion of the bottle.

[0012] Preferably the carrying means is unitary in construction.

[0013] It is also preferable that the carrying means is made from paper,plastics, fabric or woodfree paper.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment at least a portion, of at least onesurface of said carrying means, has a decorative design, advertisement,logo or picture displayed thereon. Preferably at least one surface ofsaid body portion has an advertisement printed thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scopeof the present invention, preferred forms of the invention will now bedescribed, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

[0016]FIG. 1A shows a front view of a carrying means according to afirst embodiment of the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 1B shows a rear view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1A;

[0018]FIGS. 2A to 2D show a front view, side view, rear perspective viewand front perspective view respectively of the carrying means accordingto an embodiment of the present invention holding a bottle;

[0019]FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a carrying means according toan embodiment of the present invention in use carrying a bottle;

[0020]FIG. 4 shows a further embodiment of a carrying means according tothe present invention; and

[0021]FIGS. 5A and 5C show three embodiments of the carrying meansaccording to the present invention adapted to hold 2 bottles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0022] The detailed description given herein will describe a series ofembodiments of the invention, in particular in relation to a means forcarrying a bottle.

[0023]FIG. 1A shows a front view of a first embodiment of the carryingmeans according to the invention. The carrying means 100 includes anelongate body portion 110 having an aperture 120 extending therethrough.The body portion 110 extends around the aperture 120 to define a firstloop 115. The carrying means 100 also includes a carry handle 125attached to the loop 115. At the opposite end of the elongate bodyportion 110 to the carry handle 125 a second loop 130 is attached.

[0024] Turning now to FIG. 1B which shows the rear side of the carryingmeans 100 of FIG. 1A. The rear side of the carrying means 100 similarlyincludes an elongate body portion 110, with an aperture 120 extendingtherethrough defining a first loop 115. The carry handle 125 is attachedto the rear surface 111 of the elongate body 110 at the loop portion115. The handle 125 can be attached with an adhesive such as glue ordouble-sided tape to the rear surface 111 of the elongate body 110.Retention of the carry handle 125 is aided by the placement of agenerally annular reinforcing patch 140 which is attached to the rearside 110 of the carrying means 100. Similarly the second loop 130 isglued to the upper surface 111 of the body portion 110 and held in placevia a second reinforcing patch 150. In addition to holding the carryhandle 125 and second retaining loop 130 in position, the reinforcingpatches 140,150 provide additional strength to the carrying means 100 inpositions with high mechanical stress.

[0025] The carrying means may be made from a suitably flexible yetstrong fabric, plastics, paper or woodfree-paper material. In theembodiment shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B the body portion 110 can be made ofa synthetic paper-like material such as Tyvek made by DuPont, and thehandle 125 and retaining loop 130 may be made of a reinforced paperribbon such as is commonly used in the art to make handles for brownpaper bags. Alternatively the carry handle and second retaining loop,can be plastic carry handles, such as ScotchPad™ Carry Handles from by3M.

[0026] In this embodiment, the carry handle 125 and the retaining loop130 are glued to the body portion 110 and the reinforcing patches 140and 150 are made from a self-adhesive fabric-backed tape, such as gaffertape or book binding tape. Alternatively, the reinforcing patches 150can be made of the same material as the body 110 of the carrying meansand be attached using a suitable adhesive.

[0027] In use, the carrying means may be applied to a bottle by firstlyplacing the first retention loop 115 around the bottle such that thebody of the bottle protrudes through the aperture 120 of the carryingmeans 100.

[0028] In general, there is no requirement that the loop portion 115 ofthe carrying means 100 passes over the entire bottle from the narrowerend to the wider end in order to attain a position around the wider endof the bottle. Ideally, the aperture 120 is of a dimension which allowsthe easy insertion of the bottle but it should not be so large as toallow the bottle to move around freely within the aperture. The chiefpurpose of the first loop 115 is not to support the weight of the bottlein the carrying means, but rather it is to retain the bottle in asubstantially inverted vertical alignment such that it does not fallover or fall out of the carrying means 100.

[0029] Next, the neck of the bottle is placed through the second loop130. The second loop 130 is then moved along the length of the bottle tobe carried until the loop 130 attains a tight fit around the shoulder,between the neck and body of the bottle.

[0030] Once the second retention loop 130 is in a position such that itwill not move further along the body of the bottle, the carrying meanscan be lied by the handle 125. When the carrying means is lifted by thehandle, the weight of the bottle in the carrying means is supportedsubstantially by the second retention loop 130 against the taper of thebottle's shoulder. The body portion 110 of the carrying means 100 actsas a sling connecting the second retention loop 130 to the carry handle,whilst the first retention loop 115 maintains the bottle in verticalalignment.

[0031] It should be noted that when an bottle is lifted using thecarrying means it may be possible that the second retention loop 130will slide along the bottle. In order to prevent this the length of thebody portion 110 should not be so long that the second retention loopslips off the base of the bottle. Additionally, it is preferable thatthe weight of the bottle is supported only by the second retention loop130 and not by the first retention loop 115. In order to ensure thatthis is the case aperture 120 should be sized such that the firstretention loop 115 is a loose fit around the body of the bottle to becarried.

[0032]FIGS. 2A to 2D show a carrying means 100 according to anembodiment of the invention being used applied to a bottle 200. Thebottle 200 is of the type having a body portion 210 and a relativelynarrow neck portion 220 with a tapered region 215 located therebetweenThe bottle 200 additionally has a base 205. It can be seen from FIGS. 2Ato 2D that the carrying means 100 is placed on the bottle such that thefirst retention loop 115 is located around the body portion 210 of thebottle 200 in a location adjacent to the base 205 and the secondretention loop 130 is positioned around the tapered portion 215 of thebottle between the neck 220 and the body 210. The elongated body portion110 of the carrying means 100 is pulled taut along the length of thebody 210 of the bottle 200.

[0033] The carrying means 100 can be applied to a bottle in a number ofdifferent ways. Typically, the carrying means will be applied to thebottle while the bottle is standing in an upright position on its base205 supported by a table, bench or other support means. In thisposition, the carrying means can be placed on the bottle by sliding thefirst retention loop 115 over the neck 220 of bottle 200 and sliding itdown to a position in the vicinity of the tapered portion 215 of the,bottle. Next, the second retention loop 130 can be placed over the neck220 over the bottle 200 and slid down to a position adjacent to thefirst retention loop 115. From this position the first retention loop115 can be slid along the body 210 of the bottle 200 until the bodyportion 110 of the carrying means 100 is pulled taut along the side ofthe bottle 200 and the second retention loop 130 is pulled along theneck until it becomes tight against the tapered portion 215 of thebottle. The bottle can then be turned over and carried by the carryhandle 215. It will be clear that many other methods of placing thecarrying means 100 on a bottle or other bottle are available such asplacing the bottle 200 base first 205 through the first retention loop115 and then sliding the first retention loop up the body 210 of thebottle 200 toward the tapered portion 215 until the second retentionloop 130 can be placed over the top of the neck 220 of the bottle 200.The carrying means can be then slid toward the base 205 of the bottle200 until the second retention loop 130 becomes tight around the taperedportion 215 of the bottle and the weight of the bottle may be supportedvia the carry handle 125.

[0034]FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the carrying means applied to abottle 300 in use. It can be seen that the weight of the bottle 300 issupported from the user's hand by the carry handle 125 through the sideportions 115A of the first retention loop 115 and down through the bodyportion 110 of the carrying means 100 to the second retention loop 130.

[0035]FIG. 4 shows a preferred embodiment of the carrying meansaccording to the present invention. The carrying means 400 comprises asingle sheet of paper, fabric, plastic, wood free paper or othersuitable material. The carrying means 400 consists of a general elongatebody portion 410 having a first retention loop 415, a carry handle 425and a second retention loop 435 being defined by a series of apertures420, 440 and 430 respectively. The first aperture 420 and third aperture440 are located next to each other, and spaced apart by a small amountat a first end of the elongate body portion 410. The piece of bodymaterial, which remains between the two apertures 420 and 440 provides afirst retention loop 415, and the strip of material which remainsbetween the third aperture 440 and the outer periphery 401 of thecarrying means defines a carry handle 425. Similarly, the secondretention loop 435 is formed by leaving a strip of material between theouter periphery 401 of the packaging device 400 and the second aperture430.

[0036] In use, the carrying means 400 can be used in an identicalfashion to the embodiment described in connection with FIGS. 1 to 3.

[0037] The embodiment of the carrying means shown in FIG. 4 isparticularly advantageous as it can, be made from a single sheet ofsuitable material. As discussed in connection with the embodiment ofFIGS. 1 to 3 the carrying means can be made from fabric, paper, asynthetic paper alternative or plastics material. However, it should benoted that, as a single sheet of material is used in this embodiment andno reinforcing patches are used, the material from which this packagingis manufactured should be strong enough to support the weight of a fullbottle adequately without tearing or stretching substantially.

[0038]FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C show three additional embodiments of thepresent invention which can be used to carry more than one bottle. Theseembodiments generally comprise a pair of package means as discussed inconnection with FIGS. 1 to 4, which are joined together, in order toallow two bottles to be carried. The 3 embodiments shown represent 3configurations which may be obtained by joining 2 “single bottle”packages together at different positions.

[0039] Turning first to FIG. 5A which shows a carrying means 500comprising an elongate body 510 with 3 pairs of apertures 521, 540, 550,extending therethrough. The carrying means 500 is symmetrical about lineA-A, with each half being adapted to carry one bottle. As discussed inconnection with FIGS. 1 to 4, the aperture is defined two retentionloops 555, 531 and a handle 520. In use, the carrying means 500 isfolded along line A-A to produce two identical, carrying means joined bythe handle. As this embodiment is adapted to carry a greater weight thanthe embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 4, it may be necessary to reinforce thehandle portion 520 with a reinforcing patch as discussed in connectionwith FIGS. 1A and 1B. Alternatively, the material may be layered orlaminated to provide additional strength over the entire carrying means500.

[0040] Turning now to FIG. 5B which shows an alternative embodiment ofthe carrying means 599 for carrying more than one bottle. In thisembodiment, the carrying means 599 is symmetrical about line A-Aproviding two “single bottle” packages joined by their respective secondretention loops 555. As discussed in relation to FIG. 5A each half thecarrying means 599 includes a series of three apertures thereby defininga first and second retention loops 530 and 550 respectively, and a carryhandle 520.

[0041]FIG. 5C shows a further alternative embodiment of a carrying meansadapted to carry two bottles. The carrying means 598 includes agenerally elliptical body portion 510 which is symmetrical about lineA-A. This embodiment essentially represents 2 “single bottle” packagesattached by their respective first retention loops 531. Each half of thebody portion 510 includes two apertures 530, 550 which define tworetention loops 531 and 555 in each half of the carrying means 598. Thecarrying means 598 additionally includes a handle 600 which is attachedto the body 510 of the carrying means 598 along the centre line A-A. Thehandle 600 can be made of suitable material such as reinforced paper orpolymer material as discussed in connection with the embodiment of FIGS.1A and 1B. The handle 600 is attached along the centre line A-A of thecarrying means 598, and in use defines a line along which the packagewill naturally fold.

[0042] In a preferred embodiment of the carrying means according to aninvention, the surfaces of the carrying means can be adorned withdecorative designs or advertising material advertising either the retailoutlet selling the bottle to be carried, the supplier of the bottledproduct or a third party. The advertising slogans or images can beapplied to the carrying means during manufacture, by simply printing thedesigns or advertisements onto the surface of the material from whichthe carrying means is made either prior to cutting the material or onthe finished product.

[0043] It will be understood that the invention disclosed and definedherein extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of theindividual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. Allof these different combinations constitute various alternative aspectsof the invention.

[0044] The foregoing describes embodiments of the present invention andmodifications, obvious to those skilled in the art can be made thereto,without departing from the scope of the present invention.

1. A carrying means for a bottle of the type having a body portion, aneck portion and a tapered portion extending therebetween, said carryingmeans including; a first bottle retention loop adapted to receive thebody of said bottle therein; a carry handle connected to said firstbottle retention loop; a second bottle retention loop adapted to receivethe neck of said bottle therein, and a body portion connecting saidfirst and second loops together, wherein, in use the body of said bottleis retained in said first loop, and the neck of said bottle is retainedin said second loop, such that when said carrying means is suspended bysaid carry handle, said bottle is substantially supported by said secondloop against the tapered portion of the bottle.
 2. A carrying means asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said carrying means is unitary inconstruction.
 3. A carrying means as claimed in any one of the precedingclaims wherein said carrying means is made from paper, plastics, fabricor wood-free paper.
 4. A carrying means as claimed in any one of thepreceding claims wherein at least a portion, of at least one surface ofsaid carrying means has a decorative design, advertisement, logo orpicture displayed thereon.
 5. A carrying means as claimed in any one ofthe preceding claims wherein at least one surface of said body portionhas an advertisement printed thereon.
 6. A carrying means substantiallyas herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings.